The present disclosure relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus including a neutralizing portion configured to irradiate a light on an image carrier to neutralize the image carrier.
In the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, modulated light is irradiated on a plurality of photoconductor drums that are charged by a charging process, based on image data. With this configuration, electrostatic latent images are formed on the surfaces of the photoconductor drums. Next, the electrostatic latent images are developed by colors of toner different from one another, and toner images corresponding to the colors are formed on the surfaces. Here, the colors may be a plurality of chromatic colors, and black. In a case where an intermediate transfer method is adopted, by a first transfer process, the toner images are transferred from the photoconductor drums to an intermediate transfer belt running in a predetermined running direction to be superposed thereon.
In the image forming apparatus, there is a concern of transfer memory images, described below, forming on the surfaces. During the first transfer process, a transfer current flows through the photoconductor drums. An amount of the transfer current in areas on the surfaces on which toner is adhered is different from an amount of the transfer current in areas to which toner is not adhered. If an uneven charge generates on the surface due to this difference in the amounts of the transfer current, the transfer memory image forms on the surface.
It is known that in the image forming apparatus, a neutralizing device may be adopted for performing pre-transfer neutralization and post-transfer neutralization to prevent the transfer current from flowing to each of the photoconductor drums at a low cost. During the pre-transfer neutralization, the neutralizing device irradiates light on one of the photoconductor drums before the first transfer process. With this configuration, positive charge is removed from the surface, and generation of the uneven charge is prevented.
During the post-transfer neutralization, the neutralizing device irradiates light on another photoconductor drum that is adjacent to, in the running direction, the photoconductor drum on which light was irradiated during the pre-transfer neutralization. With this configuration, the positive charge is removed from the other photoconductor drum before the charging process.